Family History Writing Challenge - Day 1

I often remember the pain that I saw on my Grandmother face when she talked about the feelings she had for her brothers. It wasn't just pain, but an anguish and in some ways a disbelief that her own flesh and blood could behave in such a way.

After her parents died, her father in 1931 and her mother in 1937 my Grandmother, as the eldest daughter still living at home kept the family home running for her brothers. Her eldest sister, Elsie whom she was fairly close to was married and living in her own home, perhaps some of the brother were too, I don't recall my Grandmother saying and I have not checked my files. Anyway, she kept the house running for the boys as she called them and the house was rented I think from Franks the coal merchants who had their yard at the back of Guildford railway station.

One day she came back from shopping in town, remember this was the late 1930s and their were no fridges therefore shopping was done everyday, to find the furniture being loaded onto a coal truck. I am not sure about my Grandmother's personal effects, but she said when she asked her brothers what they were doing they said they had given the house up and moving out.

When I heard the story I truly felt her pain and anguish. How could they I asked? and her reply was because they cared for no one but themselves. My Grandmother after that time never had a good word to say about her brothers. She lost touch with brother Sid who was one of the youngest, although they did start writing again in later years, and her younger sister Dorothy rushed off to Wales...... I got the impression that the culprits of the furniture incident was the eldest brother Jim. As a result my Grandmother had no heirlooms from her family at all. She didn't really keep in touch with her brothers, although if she met them, or their families she would "speak to be civil, as not too would be as sinking as low as them" I can hear her saying that as I type.

For me this is a tragic story and piece of my family history and as a result family relationships were negligible and this continues to be the case. All my Uncles and Aunts have now passed away and this story is confined to the family history.

Word count 412.